Vancouver-based TravelAI announced it is acquiring Sonder’s brand and intellectual property only, and relaunched Sonder.com as a booking platform for urban accommodations.
TravelAI, a Canadian artificial intelligence-powered travel technology platform, is the operating name of UpNext Ventures Inc. and its subsidiaries. UpNext Ventures acquired Sonder brand assets after the company filed for bankruptcy.
TravelAI acuired the business in a bid to bring an originally Canadian brand “back home” and offers travellers the opportunity to find a place that is “genuinely right for them” from apartment-style professionally-managed homes, boutique hotels, and urban stays drawn from TravelAI’s distribution partners.
“Sonder earned something rare: a name people remember and a standard of taste they trusted. We did not acquire a portfolio of buildings. We acquired the one brand in travel whose name already means what we are building with our memory infrastructure. Where the old Sonder’s technology once lived in the lock on the door, it now lives in discovery, memory, and AI-enabled personalization,” said John Lyotier, co-founder and CEO of TravelAI.
TravelAI’s relaunched Sonder.com promises a curated collection of hotels and apartment accommodations in the “world’s best cities,” showcasing a mix of hotels, aparthotels, apartments and serviced apartments. Bookings are fulfilled by TravelAI’s distribution partners, including companies like Booking.com, Expedia and Vrbo.
Sonder joins a growing family of travel brands TravelAI has acquired and revitalized, including Casai, Smartours, and OwnerDirect.
